Navy Officer Charged with Battery at Disney World

Oct 15, 2013|by Michael Hoffman

A U.S. Navy ensign who graduated from the Naval Academy and played on the football team was arrested Saturday at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center for allegedly getting drunk, assaulting two park employees, and hitting a woman with a 3-foot plastic PVC pipe.

Ensign Austin DeVan Hill was charged with battery, aggravated battery, and felony battery. Hill is assigned to Training Air Wing 5 at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla. He was released from an Orange Country, Fla. jail Sunday morning.

A police report of the incident said Hill appeared to be drunk as he yelled and made incoherent statements during Epcot's annual International Food and Wine Festival, according to an Orlando Sentinel report.

Hill punched two Disney World male workers in the head and struck a female with a PVC pipe after Hill entered a backstage office area, according to the Sentinel report.

Hill allegedly punched a man identified as Michael Connelly leaving him with a large gash on his forehead, according to the report. Next, Hill allegedly assaulted another man identified as Timothy Beltley in the face as Beltley tried to stop Hill from taking a cargo work cart, according to the Sentinel.

Later, Hill hit a woman identified as Jessica Brown on the left cheek and neck with the 3-foot plastic PVC pipe, according to the Sentinel. Disney security officials restrained Hill before Orange Country deputies arrested him. Hill was bleeding from the knees, wrists and hands when the deputies found him, the Sentinel reported.

Hill chose Navy Pilot for his service selection during his last semester at the Naval Academy, the college from which he graduated in 2012. He was listed as a long snapper on the Navy's football team's 2009 roster, according to NavySports.com.